Spain lawmakers tell kids to pick up a broom at home

Story by Gina-Maria Garcia

SALAMANCA – In Spain, children may now be forced to stop – and sweep – in the name of the law.

From toddlers to teenagers, Spanish children under the age of 18 may soon be legally obliged to set down the video game controller and start picking up a broom, according to a draft bill in the Spanish Parliament proposed in late April. If passed through the Senate in May, the Child Protection Bill will technically make it against the law to not help out with household chores.

In other words, the new legislation is a Spanish mother or father’s dream come true because it asks their children to respect them, and, as the language in the proposal puts it,  “[carry] out domestic tasks in accordance with their age, regardless of their gender.”

“They have their rights, but they need responsibility too,” says Alberto Gutiérrez Alberca, the senator of the Popular Party for the city of Valladolid who also clarified that this section of the bill is more like a list of expectations of minors. “It’s more of an inspiration. This is not something that they are going to be punishing anybody for. They are trying to make the youngsters help their parents with the chores in the house, to teach them some responsibility.”